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OS X Businesses Operating Systems Upgrades Apple

Apple Updates G5 Firmware, ARD Client; Not MPEG-2 Decoder 49

Posted by pudge from the deshizzle-my-mpegizzle dept.
obirt writes "A G5 firmware update provides changes for initializing and running your Power Mac G5. It provides some performance improvements for some PCI-X configurations, patches a security hole and improves fan behavior in Open Firmware." sandrift writes "Software Update just popped up with a new version of the Apple Remote Desktop Client; the version 1.2.4 update delivers improvements to security, performance, and reliability of the Apple Remote Desktop 1.2 client software running on Mac OS X versions 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3." ARD Client is included with Mac OS X 10.3. tdemark writes "MPEG-2 decoding is not supported by default in QuickTime; it is added by purchasing an additional component. Those of us that have this component discovered that it stopped working as of yesterday; it will not run after December 14, 2003. The suggested workaround is to set your clock back. VideoLAN can also be used in emergencies while Apple fixes the issue."
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Apple Updates G5 Firmware, ARD Client; Not MPEG-2 Decoder More

Apple Updates G5 Firmware, ARD Client; Not MPEG-2 Decoder

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  • Feedback about G5 Firmware update (Score:5, Informative)

    by jpkunst ( 612360 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @06:01AM (#7743700)

    ... can be found at Versiontracker [versiontracker.com]. Almost all positive.

    JP

    • I'm sure it worked for most people, but it killed my box. I called Apple and I'm taking it to a repair center today. So, I'm sure it works great for most, but I'm the 1%. As with all firmware updates... be careful!
      • How about some more info? Did the installation fail? What happened exactly? Did Apple tech support say anything interesting about what might have caused this? Anything notable at all that we might watch out for? It would be nice to figure out if it's something that's avoidable in any way.
        • I really don't have any more information to give. There were no apparent failures. The update said it ran fine. The Apple tech really didn't seem very knowledgable. We tried removing USB devices and reseting the PMU (Power Management Unit), both to no avail. After that, he simply said to take it to a repair center. I did and they just called to say it's ready, but I don't know what the problem was yet. (Haven't talked to the tech yet.)

          I'm sure some bit just didn't get set right in the upgrade.

  • Mplayer OS X (Score:5, Informative)

    by Llywelyn ( 531070 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @06:01AM (#7743701) Homepage
    Mplayer OS X is a nice little package that helps with those files that quicktime can't play/recognize/dies-when-even-mentioned-around.

    http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/

    Its interface is lighter weight than VLC, though not as flexible, and it tends to "just work" for most files.
    • gee thanks. I could have gotten a karma point or two for asking id mplayer worked on OSX, but no.. you have to answer befopre i asked. meanie.

      btw, thx for the link. anyone know if mplayer osx has the out of sync audio problem that it has on linux(or it it just me)?

      • Re:Mplayer OS X (Score:3, Informative)

        by Llywelyn ( 531070 )
        It does if your hardware is too slow (slow being a relative term). You can fix it (to a degree) by adding

        -autosync 30 -mc 0 -framedrop

        to the command line arguments in preferences.

        -ni and -nobps as well as higher values of autosync, might also help.

  • Just download the MPEG2 component again! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @06:12AM (#7743734)
    There's an update version available at the Apple Store. If you did purchase it from the Apple Store you can re-download an updated version!

    • Re:Just download the MPEG2 component again! (Score:5, Informative)

      by tdemark ( 512406 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @07:34AM (#7743951) Homepage
      When I submitted this around noon yesterday, the updated file was not available. Apple didn't give any timeline other than "We're working on it".

      But, you are right. As of last night, 8:49 PM ET (according to the modification date), the component has been updated.

      If you have purchased the component from the Apple store, log in, go to "Your Account", and then "Software Download Purchases" to get the update file.

      The new file is 4 bytes larger (732272 bytes) and has the following checksums:

      MD5 de67658d2070b3f662ba94e42df6780c
      sum 14209 716
      cksum 2146919698 732272

  • VLC gives better playback anyway! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Alan Partridge ( 516639 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @06:21AM (#7743759) Journal
    We got the Apple MPEG2 playback component with Conmpressor, but its performance is really nothing to write home about. It's about time that Apple integrated MPEG into QuickTime properly (including encoding MPEG1, 2 and MPEG1 Layer 2 and 3 audio) they could then bump up the QT Pro price to a $100 or so and give us the standard toolkit that QT SHOULD HAVE HAD for the last 2 years.

    Cleaner is dying, Apple should step up to the plate.

    • Re:VLC gives better playback anyway! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Pope ( 17780 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @10:03AM (#7744850)
      Already people balk at paying the US$30 for QT Pro just to get full screen playback, $100 would be too much.
      • They ought to give away the QuickTime Pro Key with new hardware anyway.

        If I spent two grand plus on a PowerBook, should I really need to pay a few quid extra just to play a movie file full screen?
        • I agree. They give away the QT Pro key with Pro applications like FCP and DVD SP, why not with Pro hardware - ie G5 towers and Powerbooks (at least)?
          • It took them 3 months to ship me on a working, PowerBook 17 inch, because the Courier company kept stealing them.

            When I asked Apple if they'd give me ANY form of compensation, they said they couldn't - I asked if I could have an iPod - no. A copy of Office, no. A copy of Keynote, no... finally asked about 'a QT Pro key' and was told no again.

            I recommend everyone avoid the UK and Ireland Apple Store, and shop elsewhere... but not Jigsaw24, cause their website has a gaping security hole, which I've reported
            • I don't want to sound like a corporate tool, but how is it Apple's fault that the courier nicked your laptops?

              I'm lucky enough to work near to Micro Anvika, so I never buy Apple gear from Apple anyway, but I can understand what a pain in the arse it must have been for you.
              • It would be apples fault because Apple contracted with them to deliver the laptop. It is both the courier's and Apples' fault if they don't show up.
              • You're lucky enough to work in a big enough city to have a Micro Anvika. All we have in my city is AM Micro [ammicro.co.uk] who aren't really geared up for showing anything or selling to regular people, and only really come into their own when one spills a beer over the keyboard or something that PC World can't satisfy. PS. Your sig, is that an Alan quote?
    • Unfortunately, QuickTime as architected can't deal with out of order data in frames, and so can't natively deal with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or Advanced Simple MPEG-4. I suppose you could make export components for those, but it'll take some serious refactoring before QuickTime could really treat those formats as first class citizen.

      As far as QT Pro for $100, I assure you that the user base would go ballistic. Apple does install MPEG-2 encoding (fast, but not very flexible) as a QuickTime component for owners of F
      • I think users would GLADLY pay $100 for a full featured QT Player - the situation as it stands now is that Apple is perceived as requiring you to pay $30 just for full screen playback. Now you and I know that QT Pro gives you a hell of a lot more than that, but the continued inability to encode to MPEG1 (you get a free VCD compliant encoder with Toast!), MPEG1 Layer 2 and 3 (how many freeware/shareware encoders have this?) and MPEG2 (as you say, you get the components with "Pro" apps) - not to mention the c
        • Actually, I think Apple quit trying to fight Windows Media quite a while ago. They're not pushing or enhancing the .mov file format anymore - the best codec available is still Sorenson Video 3, which shipped two and a half years ago.

          QuickTime's importance to Apple today is much more as a digital media SDK, and hence the foundation of their very successful products like iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, iTunes, iPhoto, etcetera.

          QuickTime is also the best authoring architecture out there, with wonderful features like reference movies.

          But as a delivery format, Apple has been letting it linger, but isn't putting much effort into enhancing it. They've talked a lot about MPEG-4 being the future of the file format, but haven't done much technically to make that viable either.
  • Seems the MPEG-2 problem in QT has been solved.
    From MacNN [macnn.com]:

    Apple quietly patches MPEG-2 component bug
    A MacNN reader reports that Apple has quietly patched the MPEG-2 Component expiring bug that we reported on Monday. Users must login to the Apple Store and visit the software download purchases section to download the updated Component. Versions are available for QuickTime 6.3 and QuickTime 6.4 (in the same download).

    • It does fix the issue (having it running and working on my work computer); the software was updated sometime either late on the 16th or early on the 17th (late on the 16th, the download wasn't updated, but when I got up in the morning, it was updated and the issue was fixed).

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